As usual, thanks to RainMirror to beta this chapter for me. Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows.


Baelfire looked hesitant for a second before giving him a hug. Bae had always been a hugger. He returned the embrace.

After a few seconds, Baelfire released his hug and scratched the back of his neck. A sign of nervousness. "I'm sorry. I don't know whether you want to be hugged. I thought the situation was warranted."

"Don't worry about it. You've been always been a hugger even when you were young."

"You need to tell me more about my childhood. My mind is not as it used to be."

"Pssht, B-, Neal, don't joke like that. You can ask me a specific question then I'll try my best to answer." Without revealing that we were from another world, we had lived for hundreds of years, and you had died and returned. He didn't like lying to his son. Perhaps he could apply selective truth. "Perhaps we can come in first."

"Oh, sorry about that. Where are my manners?"

Bae led him to the couch. He raised his eyebrows seeing that it had been slept on. He thought he knew who was in the bedroom.

"Do you want some tea?"

"Tea will be nice."

Baelfire went to the kitchen to boil some water. Rumple looked around the apartment. He remembered the first time he had been here. It was around one and a half years ago. How he needed to pick the lock and Henry acted as the lookout. How Bae didn't want to have anything to do with him and only came back because he got attacked by Hook. He often wished that Bae hadn't gone to Storybrooke. Or perhaps he shouldn't have gone and found Bae. He would never have died. Now was his second chance to start fresh. Perhaps it'd be better if Bae never remembered seeing he had suffered so much. It'd be cruel to let him remember all those things.

"A bit of milk and two sugars?" Bae's question broke him out of his reverie.

"Sure. You remember how I like to take it."

"Of course. I'd never forget how you treated me before…before… I've always thought of you as a father I thought I didn't have."

"Oh, Son, I'm so sorry. I should never have lied to you. It's just…I thought I had lost you for good then you came back. You had your…your accident because of my fault. I thought if you didn't remember me, you'd be safe."

Baelfire put a tray with two cup of tea in front of him. He sat down and swallowed a lump in his throat. "That's..that's fine in the end I guess. I…I..I thought I was a bad person, hence no one wanted me."

He quickly enveloped his son in a hug and Bae hugged back. "I'm so sorry. I really shouldn't have done that. You were never a bad person. Quite the contrary actually. You're one of the best people I've known. And I've lived a long time and seen a lot of scum or people masquerading as heroes because they have titles or looks. Mind you, people are superficial, but they do bad things with the excuse of true loves or saving kingdoms or whatever excuses they use to be able to sleep at night. You were never one of them. It's not bias because you're my son." He heard Bae chuckle. "I'm not joking. You just have strings of bad luck. Of course you made mistakes, you never intended to hurt people but you thought you were doing what was best for others. But when you realized your mistake, you kept trying to do the right thing. If that's not the mark of a good person, I don't know what is."

Bae released the hug. "Thanks. It's sort of comforting although I really don't have any idea what you are talking about. How did I get into the accident? What kinds of mistakes and bad luck? Who have I accidentally hurt? Did you say kingdoms and true loves? Do we still do that in this century? They sound very medieval."

Rumple realized that he had said too much even though he tried to be as abstract as possible. "It was just a figure of speech. I guess I've been reading too many archaic books that Belle is obsessed with. Shall we drink our tea before they get cold?"

He could see that Baelfire wanted to ask more and knew he was evading. He seemed to mull it over, then decided to drop it for now. "Sure. I even still have the ginger biscuits you like. Let me get some for you." He walked to the kitchen again.

Get it together, Rumple. It was hard because instinctively he wanted to comfort his son so much. He knew all about Bae's nightmares, fears, and insecurities, thanks to sharing one body for nearly one year. He never had time to help Bae's psychological issues before his death. But again Bae didn't remember any of them so perhaps it didn't matter. What matters is the present time.

Baelfire finally managed to find the ginger biscuit from one of his numerous cupboards. He sat down next to his dad. He looked hesitant. "May I ask you something?"

Rumple dreaded the question. "Sure."

"How did I normally address you? Dad? Pop?"

He missed his son calling him Papa. But this was a small price to pay if his son was alive and happy. "Whatever you like, Son. I don't mind. I won't favour your other siblings if you address me wrong."

"Do I have other siblings? Is there something you haven't told me? Oh no, is Belle pregnant? Will I be a big stepbrother?"

That went unexpectedly. "No, no, Son. She is not pregnant. I was joking that I'll still love you no matter what you call me."

"Can I call you Pop then? It just sounds less informal and you're not that old."

"Why thank you, Son. Sure, you can call me Pop."

"Please drink you tea, Pop."

Rumple's heart warmed at the sound of that. He was not wrong. Bae could call him anything and he would still be happy.

They drank their tea in companionable silence. He then remembered that Bae had slept on the couch. "Why did you sleep here? Do you have a guest living in your bedroom?"

"Two, in fact. Emma and Elaine. You know Emma, you haven't met Elaine. They were still sleeping when you came. I don't want to wake them up."

Rumple raised his eyebrows. "Two, you said."

Baelfire pinkened. "No, it's not what you think. Besides, I slept on the couch."

"You don't know what I was thinking, Son." He liked to see this side of his son. He missed Bae's teenage years where he would sneak out to meet a girl, thinking that he wouldn't know or approve. Well, he assumed that would have happened had they not been separated. Baelfire had always been a good looking kid. He would've been popular among the girls. Unless the women were into leathers, empty flirts, and pirates. He gritted his teeth.

"Are you OK, Pop? You don't seem happy. I can assure you nothing above PG13 happened here last night. I just remember vomiting and falling down a few times." He grimaced.

"That's not what I'm thinking about. Even if I'm correct about what you thought I thought, it's none of my business. You had Henry so I believe you know what you are doing."

It looked like Bae wanted to disappear from the face of the earth. Rumple was alarmed because those have actually happened twice to him. It was better to change subject. "Speaking of Henry, he gave me some gifts for you. He apologized he couldn't come but Regina is strict and it is near exam time."

He handed the bundle to Baelfire. Bae grinned so widely like it was his first Christmas. In a way, it was his first Christmas after the resurrection. "Henry shouldn't have. I understand he's in school right now."

"Well, he insisted. I guess stubbornness runs in this family." He looked at Baelfire's right hand as he was opening the present. The mark created by the key of the Vault was still not there. He was really worried that one day it would reappear and Bae would be taken away from him again. Perhaps this was indeed a new start. He needed to thank whatever deity that had helped Bae

Baelfire produced two scarves, one grey and the other one dark blue. His eyes brightened. "How does he know I like scarves?" Rumple raised his eyebrows. "Oh, right, silly question." There was also a box of pumpkin pies. Bae grinned so widely and Rumple was really glad to see that. There was also a card at the top of the box. Rumple wondered how Henry managed to get all these in one night.

Baelfire opened it and read out loud.

"Sorry, Dad, for not telling you the truth earlier. I've always wanted to but the adults said it would be too dangerous for you. Here are my tokens of apologies. I hope you like them. I'll come to visit you soon after I finish my exams. You're the best Dad I could ever hope for. Love, Henry."

There were tears in both of their eyes.

"Henry is a great kid." Baelfire stammered.

"He is. You're not so bad yourself."

"I should call him but he is in class. I'll text him." Baelfire typed in his phone and before he hit send, he read it out loud for Rumple's benefit. "Thank you so much for your lovely gifts. I love them. Don't worry about not telling me earlier. I appreciate your honesty. I'm going to wear the dark blue scarf right now. I hope you are doing well in your examinations. I'm sorry I can't help you with your studies. You're a smart kid. You're going to do well. Take care and I love you. Talk to you soon!"

Rumple was touched by the honesty and the great bond between Henry and Bae. Even when Bae didn't remember. "That sounds all right."

"Thanks, Pop. I'm sending it now."

"I've done what Henry asked me to do. Should we go out for brunch with those two lovely ladies of yours?" He couldn't help it. He liked to tease him. He enjoyed seeing the carefree side of his son. Their relationship had been tense in the last couple hundreds of years which was the understatement of the millennium.

Baelfire spluttered. "As I said, they're not my ladies. They're their own persons. I don't own them. I don't even think they think of me that way."

"Relax. I was just teasing you. I'm sure they think of you more than as a friend. Otherwise, they wouldn't have stayed here."

"Fine, I'll go to check if they have woken up," Baelfire said that but it seemed like he would rather face a pack of lions. Baelfire seemed to be a magnet for dangerous ladies. Not that Rumple himself was innocent in that regard.


Note:

-I presume Neal had only spent at most a couple of weeks in Storybrooke before getting shot, plus the events of Neverland which only lasted a few days, one missing year, then when he died and got resurrected so it would be around 1.5 years give or take. It's ridiculous that Neal and Rumple didn't manage a proper talk in between that time because the show thrives on action rather than characters and family interactions. The closest they had was when Neal held his father's hand in Miller's Daughter and when they hugged after rescuing Henry. Again if they care about this father and son's relationship which made me love this show, they wouldn't have killed off Neal. I went a bit beta in some parts to express my opinion of the show now. Sorry for the rant.

-Next is the awkward lunch part two, except that it's brunch and Rumple is involved.

-Please tell me what you think. Anon hate reviews will be deleted. Why would an anti swanfire/Neal people go to review the story that is clearly marked swanfire/Neal? If it's not the ship you like, go read something you like. Besides, this story is not only about romance but family which I think is more important but not explored properly in the show.